We Didn’t Have in Spanish | Say It Right Every Time

Spanish often uses “no teníamos”, “no tuvimos”, or “no había”, depending on whether you mean possession, a one-time event, or simple existence.

You’ve got an English sentence: “We didn’t have …” and you want it in Spanish. Then Spanish hits you with options. “No teníamos.” “No tuvimos.” “No había.” “No contábamos con.” All can work, and all can miss the mark, depending on what “have” means in your line.

This page sorts it out with plain rules, lots of short examples, and a fast way to pick the form that fits your meaning. By the end, you’ll know what to say when you mean you lacked something, when something didn’t exist, and when a plan fell through.

What “We Didn’t Have” Can Mean In Spanish

In English, “have” is a workhorse. It can mean possession (“we didn’t have a car”), availability (“we didn’t have time”), experience (“we didn’t have any trouble”), or existence (“we didn’t have any chairs left”). Spanish splits those meanings across different verbs and tenses.

Start with one question: are you talking about owning/possessing something, or about something existing/being available in a place? If it’s ownership, you’re usually in tener. If it’s existence or availability, you’re often in haber (había, hubo).

Possession Or Control: “No Teníamos” And “No Tuvimos”

Use tener when your group possessed something, carried it, brought it, or had it under control.

• We didn’t have a map. → No teníamos un mapa.
• We didn’t have enough money. → No teníamos suficiente dinero.
• We didn’t have your contact details. → No teníamos tus datos de contacto.

Then pick the past tense:

• No teníamos (imperfect): a background state, a stretch of time, a repeated situation.
• No tuvimos (preterite): a finished, bounded moment or event in the past.

So if you mean “At that time, for a while, we lacked it,” no teníamos fits. If you mean “On that occasion, we didn’t have it,” no tuvimos often fits.

Existence Or Availability: “No Había” And “No Hubo”

Use haber when you mean “there wasn’t / there weren’t” in a place or situation. It’s about what existed, not what someone owned.

• We didn’t have any seats left. → No había asientos.
• We didn’t have water in the building. → No había agua en el edificio.
• We didn’t have any options. → No había opciones.

Again, tense matters:

• No había (imperfect): a continuing state in the past.
• No hubo (preterite): a single past event or a closed time window.

If you’re unsure, think of a snapshot. If you can point to the moment as finished (“that day,” “that meeting,” “that night”), no hubo can fit. If you’re painting the background (“back then,” “for months”), no había can fit.

Taking “We Didn’t Have in Spanish” From English To Natural Spanish

Now let’s turn those ideas into a quick selection routine. Don’t translate word by word. Translate the meaning of “have.”

Step 1: Decide If You Mean “Had” Or “There Was”

Ask: could you swap “we didn’t have” for “there wasn’t” in English without changing the meaning?

• If yes: use haber → no había / no hubo.
• If no: use tener → no teníamos / no tuvimos.

Try it fast:

• “We didn’t have chairs.” → “There weren’t chairs.” Sounds right → No había sillas.
• “We didn’t have a car.” → “There wasn’t a car.” Sounds off → No teníamos coche.

Step 2: Pick The Past Tense That Matches Your Time Frame

Spanish past tenses can feel picky, yet they’re consistent. The RAE glossary entry on pretérito perfecto simple frames the core idea: the preterite treats the event as finished, while the imperfect presents a past situation without pointing to its end. For classroom-style criteria, the Instituto Cervantes CVC shares practical prompts for choosing in this imperfecto vs. indefinido teaching paper (PDF).

Use that idea with “we didn’t have”:

• Imperfect (no teníamos / no había): background, ongoing lack, repeated lack, scene-setting.
• Preterite (no tuvimos / no hubo): one-time lack inside a closed moment.

Two paired examples show the feel:

• Back then we didn’t have internet. → No teníamos internet.
• That day we didn’t have internet. → No tuvimos internet ese día.

For existence, it works the same:

• At that time there weren’t taxis in the area. → No había taxis en la zona.
• That night there weren’t any taxis. → No hubo taxis esa noche.

Step 3: Watch For “Have” Phrases That Spanish Treats Differently

Some English “have” phrases don’t translate with tener or haber at all. You still start from meaning, then pick the Spanish verb that carries it.

• We didn’t have to go. → No tuvimos que ir / No teníamos que ir (duty or obligation).
• We didn’t have any trouble. → No tuvimos problemas (events) or No teníamos problemas (ongoing).
• We didn’t have time. → No teníamos tiempo (ongoing) / No tuvimos tiempo (that occasion).

Common Meanings And Best Spanish Options

Use the table below as a fast map. Read the English meaning first, then pick the Spanish pattern. Keep the examples short in your head, then swap in your own nouns.

English Meaning	Best Spanish Pattern	Quick Example
Ongoing lack of something you possessed	No teníamos + noun	No teníamos coche.
One-time lack on a specific occasion (possession)	No tuvimos + noun	No tuvimos entradas.
Ongoing absence in a place (existence)	No había + noun	No había agua.
Absence during a closed event window (existence)	No hubo + noun	No hubo señal.
Lack of a chance or option	No había + opciones / No tuvimos + oportunidad	No había opciones.
Lack of permission or need	No teníamos que / No tuvimos que	No tuvimos que pagar.
Lack of an item available to use (supplies, stock)	No había + stock / No teníamos + stock	No había stock.
Not having a planned item with you (you forgot it)	No teníamos + item / Se nos olvidó + item	No teníamos cargador.

Grammar Notes That Save You From Awkward Spanish

A few small details will make your sentence sound like Spanish, not like English dressed up in Spanish words.

Use “Haber” In Singular With Existence

When haber means “there is/there are,” standard Spanish keeps it in singular form, even with plural nouns. FundéuRAE explains this point and ties it to the norm described by the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas. See FundéuRAE’s note on “haber” as impersonal and the RAE DPD entry for “haber”.

• Correct: No había sillas.
• Prefer to avoid: No habían sillas.

Pick “Tener” When A Person Is The Owner

If the idea is ownership or something your group carried, tener keeps the subject clear. Spanish readers expect that link between people and possessions.

• We didn’t have your number. → No teníamos tu número.
• We didn’t have our tickets with us. → No teníamos las entradas encima.

If the meaning is “the venue had no tickets available,” switch to existence: No había entradas.

Time Words That Push You Toward One Tense

Certain time markers nudge you toward imperfect or preterite. They don’t force it every time, yet they’re a strong hint.

Markers That Often Pair With Imperfect

• Siempre, a menudo, todos los días: repeated situations.
• Antes, en esa época, cuando era niño: background time frames.

Examples:

• Back then we didn’t have a dishwasher. → En esa época no teníamos lavavajillas.
• We never had enough chairs. → Nunca teníamos suficientes sillas.

Markers That Often Pair With Preterite

• Ayer, anoche, ese día, en ese momento: closed time windows.
• De repente: a bounded change or event.

Examples:

• Yesterday we didn’t have time. → Ayer no tuvimos tiempo.
• That night there were no taxis. → Esa noche no hubo taxis.

Quick Fixes For The Most Common Mistakes

Most errors come from translating “have” as tener in every case. Here are fixes you can apply on the spot.

Mistake 1: Using “Tener” For Existence

Wrong idea: “We didn’t have chairs” meaning “there were no chairs.” Natural Spanish uses haber.

• Better: No había sillas.
• When you mean you didn’t own chairs: No teníamos sillas.

Mistake 2: Mixing Up Long States With One-Time Events

If you’re describing the background, imperfect often fits. If you’re describing what happened in a closed moment, preterite often fits.

• For years we didn’t have a car. → Durante años no teníamos coche.
• That weekend we didn’t have a car. → Ese fin de semana no tuvimos coche.

Mistake 3: Forgetting That Spanish Can Drop “We”

Spanish verbs already carry the subject. You can say No teníamos without nosotros. Add nosotros when you need contrast or emphasis.

• No teníamos tiempo, pero ellos sí.
• Nosotros no teníamos mapa.

Second-Language Friendly Drills That Stick

Practice works best when it’s tied to meaning, not to charts. These quick drills take two minutes and train your choice between tener and haber, plus the past tense.

Drill 1: Swap In “There Wasn’t”

Take an English sentence and swap “we didn’t have” for “there wasn’t.” If it still matches, Spanish likely wants no había or no hubo.

• We didn’t have any shade. → There wasn’t any shade. → No había sombra.
• We didn’t have a stroller. → There wasn’t a stroller. → No teníamos cochecito.

Drill 2: Add One Time Word

Add a time word to force your brain to pick a tense.

• “Back then …” → imperfect: No teníamos / No había.
• “That day …” → preterite: No tuvimos / No hubo.

Drill 3: Tell A Two-Sentence Mini Story

Use imperfect for the setup, then preterite for the event.

• No teníamos mapa y estábamos perdidos. Al final no tuvimos señal y volvimos.
• No había taxis y la calle estaba vacía. Entonces no hubo otra opción y caminamos.

Decision Cheatsheet For Fast Writing

Use this table when you’re writing emails, captions, or travel notes and you want to pick the form fast.

Clue In Your Meaning	Spanish Choice	Starter Phrase
Ownership, possession, something you carried	Tener	No teníamos…
Stock, seats, options present in a place	Haber	No había…
Long stretch in the past, repeated lack	Imperfect	No teníamos / No había…
Single occasion, finished window	Preterite	No tuvimos / No hubo…
Obligation or “had to” phrasing	Tener que	No tuvimos que…
Polite “I wanted…” style requests	Imperfect courtesy	Quería…

Ready-To-Use Phrases You Can Adapt

Below are clean, natural templates. Swap the noun, keep the structure.

For Possession Or Access

• No teníamos + noun (background): No teníamos coche.
• No tuvimos + noun (one occasion): No tuvimos tiempo.
• No contábamos con + noun (more formal): No contábamos con presupuesto.

For Existence Or Availability

• No había + noun (background): No había señal.
• No hubo + noun (one occasion): No hubo respuestas.

For Short, Spoken Replies

• We didn’t have it. → No lo teníamos.
• There wasn’t any. → No había.
• We didn’t have any left. → No nos quedaba.

If you keep mixing them up, go back to one test: can you replace “we didn’t have” with “there wasn’t” in English? That one move fixes most slips.